Sound the Bugle
by CaptainKatie643
Summary: It's down to the last 3 tributes in the arena and Peeta is the one to die. But a voice rings out claiming that Cato and Katniss are crowned victors. How will Katniss cope with Peeta gone? Will she move on with her life or will she be crushed under the weight that is Peeta's death forever? And could one blond headed male change Katniss forever? Language
1. Chapter 1

Sound the Bugle-Chapter 1

**I have a blog (the link is on my profile) that will tell you when I will post a chapter or how much longer it will be until the next update so check there every once in awhile if I don't update.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own THG**

_Sound the bugle now - play it just for me  
As the seasons change - remember how I used to be  
Now I can't go on - I can't even start  
I've got nothing left - just an empty heart_

**Katniss' POV**

"Hurry, Peeta!" I yelled breathlessly even though Peeta was close enough to hear me without the yelling. I had hauled myself up the side of the cornucopia and I reached for his hand, my knees keeping me on the cornucopia.

His hand grasped mine, still cold and clammy from his recovery from his wounded leg and I pulled him up with all my strength. We could do it, we could go home. The thought kept running through my mind, putting images of Prim's smiling face in my thoughts. I shoved all the thoughts of home away, knowing that we weren't home yet. The only thing standing in our way was Cato.

The huge mutts that were released by the Gamemakers growled impatiently on the ground below us, pacing angrily around the cornucopia. We both sat there on the cool metal, breathing heavily and staring at the sight below us. I felt a hand grasp my neck and I was jerked up to see Cato's bloody face, his mouth twisted upwards into a victorious bloody smile. I would have marveled at how much blood he was losing but my air supply was cut off quickly. My hands scratched at his as he strangled me, I tried to gasp for air as my feet dangled in the air.

"Katniss!" Yelled Peeta, getting up quickly and running at Cato. He tackled Cato and I was released from his grip. I sat gasping on the cornucopia, the air cold as it entered my lungs as I clutched my tender neck.

I kept inhaling deep breaths and I turned to see Peeta and Cato rolling around on the cornucopia, punching and choking each other. I watched in horror as Cato gave a huge blow to Peeta's stomach, effectively knocking him over. He lay in a fetal position, wrapping his arms over his stomach as he groaned. Cato sneered down at Peeta as he stood, spitting blood out of his mouth before turning to me with a murderous look in his eyes.

I stood; ready to face Cato as he approached me. My hands clenched into fists, one of them flying through the air to make an attempt to injure Cato but he easily grabbed my fist in his large hand. The courage in my eyes disappeared and I looked up at him with fear, he just smirked and applied pressure to my hand. I cried out in pain as he crushed my hand, a few bones cracking as well. Cato shoved me to the floor of the cornucopia while I cradled my hand to my chest. The thought of not being able to shoot my bow and arrow anymore passed through my mind that left me with a fear of not being able to protect myself or anyone.

Cato's hands took their place on my throat again, pushing my head over the side of the cornucopia where the mutts snarled and snapped their jaws at me. I could see them, their sharp gleaming teeth getting nearer then farther away as they jumped up to try and grab me. I saw a small dark brown wolf that jumped higher than the others, I immediately recognized her as Rue and her collar that said 11 confirmed that. I laid there helplessly as she jumped up, her paw reaching up and dug her claws into my skin. I felt the sharpened claws dig into my skin, going from my left cheek to my forehead.

I screamed in pain, feeling burning pain all over my face even though the scratches were only on the left side of my face. Cato's hands had left my neck and I jerked myself into a sitting position, putting my hands on my face as if it would soothe the pain but it would probably get it infected. Quiet whimpers were coming from my mouth and I pulled my hands away to find them completely covered with blood. I was surprised my eye was spared but the blood was running into my eye from my forehead and there was the taste of blood also pooling in my mouth.

Through the blood in my eye, I saw Cato and Peeta wrestling again but Cato was winning. I ran quickly, stumbling to the cornucopia floor, as I scrambled for my bow that had been forgotten in the process of getting onto the cornucopia. My hands were slippery with my blood and I almost dropped the bow off the cornucopia, I secured my grip and had to bite my lips to keep the screams in from the pressure on my broken hand that was wrapped around my bow, I notched the arrow and whipped around to face Cato. I was too late; Cato had Peeta in a head lock and was dangerously close to the edge.

I aimed my arrow at Cato's head, knowing the rest of his body was protected. My teeth were grit as I tried to keep the bow in my slippery fingers and prevent from crying out at the pain, Cato just smirked. My eyebrows started to draw together as Peeta's lips started to grow blue and his face reddened at the lack of air.

"Go ahead and do it. You shoot and he goes down with me." He smirked, some blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth. My eyes flickered to the mutts below us, they circled the cornucopia with fangs bared, vicious snarls escaped their mouths.

I could feel a couple droplets of blood rolling down my face as I kept my narrowed eyes on them, trying to make a decision. If I shot Cato, Peeta would fall with him and die. If I didn't do anything, Peeta would die. If I shot Peeta, he would die. Every scenario was ending with Peeta dying and I was starting to panic.

"Come on, fire girl. What are you going to do? Everybody's waiting." He snarled bitterly at me, a hint of smugness coming off his tone.

I looked at Peeta, his face starting to pale and his eyes straining to look at me. His hand that wasn't pulling weakly at Cato's moved slightly and I glanced at it with my eyebrows crinkled, what was he trying to tell me? It continued to move upwards and I watched it as Cato watched me with a smirk. I kept my eyes on Peeta's hand, my gaze flickering to Cato every once in awhile. His hand shook as he put the last of his energy into that movement. I looked back at his face to see the life slipping from his eyes. Peeta's hand fell to his side, limp.

"Peeta!" I screamed in agony, my bow dropping from its stance. Cato smiled in victory, dropping Peeta off the side of the cornucopia and to the mutts below. My mouth had fallen open, his name caught in my throat but it got stuck and I felt as if I was choking again. I was frozen in place as I stared in horror at the mutts tearing at Peeta's already unrecognizable body below. The cannon boomed but it didn't make me jump as it usually did.

"Looks like it's just you and me, fire girl." Said Cato, laughing evilly at me. I tore my eyes away from the scene below me and glared at Cato menacingly.

"You bitch!" I screamed, suddenly livid with anger and running at Cato. He didn't expect my outburst and fell onto his back on the cornucopia when I had jumped on him, my bow, arrows and broken hand forgotten. The mutts had left, not snapping at us but I didn't care. Cato looked up at me with wide eyes as I held him down with my weight and punching his face with all my strength, most of them getting blocked. I probably hurt my already broken hand than I hurt him. "You selfish bastard! Do you have any idea what you just did?" I screamed, tears of fury ran down my cheeks, carrying blood with them. "You killed him! He's gone!"

I clawed his face and arms, watching the blood slide down his skin with sadistic glee. He finally came to his senses and tried to grab my arms. He got a hold of my wrists and flipped me over so that I was held underneath of him, lying on my stomach and my hands behind my back. I began to struggle again but a voice rang out in the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! May I present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games! Cato Stone of District 2 and Katniss Everdeen of District 12." Called out the voice of Claudius Templesmith, sounding quite shocked but entertained.

I froze in my struggling at the meaning of the words. I had won. But so did Cato. And Peeta did not. When I thought of how Peeta was gone forever, I lay my cheek down on the cool metal of the cornucopia. The sun had suddenly risen, rising much too fast to be normal. Blood and tears had started to pool around my face and the blood loss was making me dizzy but I wasn't ready to fall asleep. The tears burned in my cuts but I ignored the pain. Cato had noticed that I stopped struggling so he released my wrists. Wrong decision.

I sprung from my spot, my vision blurry from my tears and blood. I turned to face him, the monster from 2. My teeth were bared like some sort of animal, blood seeping out of my claw marks as the cuts opened wider from my constant change of facial expressions and Cato watched me with wide eyes as I glared viciously at him. I thought it was peculiar that he had stopped fighting, how did he expect that Claudius was telling the truth? There never was and never will be 2 winners and I still had to kill Cato. So why wouldn't they want to see a good show? I was about to put one on.

"You should be dead." I hissed, my hands itching for a knife. I lunged forward at him, my eyes widening in surprise as I felt a pair of hands on my arms. I hissed at the pain from my hand and whipped around to face Haymitch, his eyes slightly puffy and red. The look in his eyes was pure dread and he glanced uneasily down at the blood from my arms now on his hands.

"You need to calm down, sweetheart. It's over." Said Haymitch, his grip still tight. I didn't even notice the hovercraft that had landed behind Haymitch. He examined my face quickly before his eyes hardened and he started to tug me lightly towards the hovercraft.

"No." I growled, my voice coming out low and threatening. Haymitch's eyes widened when he heard me. "No! How can you be this way? Peeta is dead and you won't do anything about it! The Games aren't over and I still have to kill him!" I screamed at Haymitch, ripping my arms out of his grip. It was almost ironic, I wanted the Games to be over as fast as possible at the beginning but now I was desperate for them to not be over.

I turned around to face Cato again only to find that he wasn't where he had been. My eyes darted around, looking for him with a murderous need. I spotted him on the ground, swarmed with nurses and some Peacekeepers. My eyes narrowed at his aliveness and I ran to where I had dropped my bow and arrow, picking it up and putting the arrow in place quicker than I ever had before. I cried out at the pain in my hand, feeling my bones snap even more under the intense pressure.

"Katniss, stop!" Yelled Haymitch, but it was too late. I had released the arrow and it flew towards Cato with unbelievable speed. I saw it land in his bicep, piercing through the skin and come out the other side of his arm. I screamed in frustration and fury when my arrow missed his chest and I ran to go finish him but I was tackled to the ground by multiple Peacekeepers.

I screamed and thrashed under the weight of the Peacekeepers as they struggled to hold me down. I screamed for Peeta, I screamed for Prim, I screamed for Cato to be dead. I screamed for myself to be dead. I watched helplessly as a nurse ran towards me and jabbed a needle into my thigh.

I cast one last look down at Cato, his eyes full of disbelief and some fear. My teeth bared again and I gave him a look that told him exactly what I was going to do when I woke up before everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Sound the Bugle-Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own THG**

_I'm a soldier - wounded so I must give up the fight  
There's nothing more for me - lead me away...  
Or leave me lying here_

**Katniss' POV**

My eyelids fluttered open to be blinded by a bright white light. My hands shot up to my face to rub my eyes but they met bandages instead. I found that one of my eyes was completely covered but the other one wasn't. I moved the palm of my hand over the left side of my face to find that most of it was covered in bandages. I was confused about why those bandages were there but I looked around the room when my eye regained focus and saw that I was in some sort of hospital. I leaned forward to get up but I felt tugging on my arms along with a dull throbbing in my left hand.

I looked down to see a bunch of tubes and wires sticking out of me. I set to work on ripping them out of my arms, some blood trickling down my arms from where the needles came out. I had noticed that my left hand was wrapped in some type of soft cast but I had ignored it. When the sound of clicking heels reached my ears, I snapped my head up to see a nurse walking through the door while flipping through a clipboard. She lifted her head to look at me, her eyes widening before running over to the wall to push a button.

My eyes were wide with confusion as she ran over to me, pushing me back against the pillow and trying to strap my arms into some kind of restraining thing attached to the bed.

"What are you doing? Get off!" I yelled, trying to pull my hands away. I fought her, pushing her off of me and getting off the bed in the process. She fell to the ground, looking up at me in fear as I steadied myself. It felt like I hadn't walked in years.

"Katniss, calm down. You are out of the Games, remember?" She said nervously in a Capitol accent, scooting away from me with a fearful look in her eyes.

My eyebrows knit together as I thought about what she said. Games? I couldn't remember any Games; there was just a pool of blackness when I tried to remember what had happened. I grabbed a syringe that was sitting on one of the trays beside me, enclosing my fingers around it which brought a painful ache to my broken hand. I looked down at my hand which was pointed at the nurse to see the cast again. Something tugged at my memory as I stared at it, when I flexed my fingers, another spasm of pain shot through my arm and a wave of memories crashed through me.

Memories of Cato, blood and pain. And Peeta. The memory of his body being torn apart angered me but made me want to cry at the same time. The nurse stayed in her position but a bunch of Peacekeepers burst through the door, running at me. I held the syringe up at them, pushing all thoughts about the Games out of my mind as I stood in a defensive position. Then, Haymitch walked through the door, holding a drink in his hand. I watched him carefully as he strolled into the room.

"So, are you awake this time, sweetheart?" He asked, plopping himself down in a chair that was in the room, completely at ease. I continued to stare at him with narrowed eyes, refusing to speak. The Peacekeepers stood still, waiting for my next move. "She's awake, get out." Ordered Haymitch, the Peacekeepers nodding and filing out the door. He took a sip of his drink as they left.

I watched, still cautious. I remembered how there was 2 winners, me and Cato. But I was confused about what was going on. When the Peacekeepers left, I turned to face Haymitch, the syringe still clenched in my aching hand. I pointed it at him, still in a defensive stance.

"So, it's you and a syringe against the Capitol, huh sweetheart." He said, leaning back in his chair. My eyes narrowed again and I stayed frozen in my spot. The ache in my hand kept bringing up memories of Cato crushing it and my anger was building up. I still needed to kill him if he isn't already dead.

"Where is he?" I asked, my voice steady despite my mood. Haymitch seemed prepared for this question, seeming like he had answered this a lot.

"Who? Peeta or Cato? You have looked for both the other times you 'woke' up. You would always scream for Peeta or try to attack us thinking we were Cato." He explained, sipping his drink a little more. He was obviously drinking to forget about Peeta and I guessed he had a few drinks before if he was talking about Peeta so easily.

To tell the truth, I didn't really know who I was asking for. When Haymitch said Peeta's name, his death crashed on top of me, crushing me so that I couldn't breathe. When Haymitch said Cato's name, my anger flared up like a forest fire. And since I was already thinking about Cato, I was fuming. Haymitch just watched, waiting for me to do something.

"Well, don't you want to know what happened?" He asked, turning his palms upwards as if that question was going to be on my mind first. My eyes snapped to him, my anger growing. He waited for my answer but I said nothing. I stalked past him and twisted the door handle, shoving it open so that it slammed into the wall.

"You're looking for him aren't you?" Haymitch said, stopping me in my tracks. I looked at him over my shoulder before continuing to the door across the hall. I know he meant Cato and that's exactly who I was looking for.

I threw open the door that was directly across from mine and found nothing but an empty patient room. I growled and stalked to the next door, the one next to my room. I threw it open to find Effie, Cinna, Brutus, Enobaria and Cato, all talking and laughing. Well, Effie and Cinna were laughing about something, Brutus and Enobaria were having their own conversation and Cato wasn't talking or laughing.

Everyone went silent when they saw me, all heads turning to stare at me. I didn't meet anyone's gaze except for Cato's. I gripped the syringe that was still in my hand in anger, not caring about the pain in my hand as I glared at him. I could feel Haymitch behind me.

"Katniss, you're awake." Said Effie, breaking the uncomfortable silence that was still hanging in the air after her words. Haymitch brushed past me to sit down next to Effie, but not before he refilled his drink from a bottle sitting on the coffee table.

"You should probably run, charming." Said Haymitch, downing half of his drink and reaching for the bottle on the table again. Cato licked his lips and gave me a look that I couldn't decipher. He looked almost, sorry, or pitiful but it wasn't possible. A career can't feel those emotions. I noticed a bandage covering his bicep from where I shot him. It made me almost happy to see that I had at least done _some_ damage to him.

"Now Katniss, let's just calm down―"

"Calm down?" I interrupted Effie, gripping the syringe tighter. My hand was wrapped around the syringe so tightly that I felt that my healing bones would crack again. "You're telling me to calm down at a time like this? Peeta is dead all because of him." I growled, the anger in my voice rising. I had pointed the syringe at Cato and everyone watched me with a certain pity in their eyes. "_He_ should be dead. _I _should be dead." I said, pointing the syringe at my chest. My voice cracked on the last sentence.

"Katniss, let's put that down." Said Cinna calmly and I found his familiar face strangely comforting. He stood up and walked towards me but I dug the needle slightly into my chest, just enough to feel the prick of the needle.

"No, I should be dead. I don't deserve to live or to win." I sniffled, tears now rolling down my face and soaking into my bandages. I saw Enobaria roll her eyes at me and Brutus scoff. Cato watched me intently and so did Effie, pity in both of their eyes while Effie's was slightly sad. Haymitch now seemed to be on the verge of passing out, the bottle that was on the table now in his hands and missing a noticeable amount of alcohol.

I felt the blood rolling down my stomach and I looked down to see it soaking into my hospital gown. I just stared at the blood, feeling like I saw so much of it now that it was expected to see it appear all the time.

"Katniss, stop. You can't hurt yourself over him." Said Cinna firmly, resting his hand on the syringe. He knew better than to mention his name right now.

I looked up into his eyes, tears continuing to soak into my bandages and roll out of my eyes. His gaze was pleading with mine. I dropped the syringe and it fell to the floor, cracking open. The clear liquid inside of it spilled onto the floor, making the blood stuck to the needle watery. I looked down at it, placing my hand on my bloody chest.

"Come on, Katniss. Let's go back to your room." Said Cinna, placing his hand on my back. I flinched a bit at his motion and Cinna ignored it which I was glad for, it embarrassed me that after a couple of weeks in the arena made me flinch at one of my good friend's motions.

As I we walked towards the door, I saw one of Haymitch's knives that he slept with sitting on a table by the door. I grabbed it silently and made sure that no one noticed it. Everyone had already turned away from me so I wasn't noticed. I slipped the knife into the pocket of my hospital gown, it was the best I could do right now. At least I had some form of protection and that made me feel a bit better.

Cinna led me to my room, making sure I got into my bed. He sat on the edge, facing me and holding my hand.

"It's not your fault." He said sincerely after a minute of silence.

"Yes it is, Cinna. I should have done something; instead I stood there like a coward and watched him die." I said, tears forming in my eyes again. I went to wipe my eyes but my hands met bandages again. "When can I take these off?" I asked, changing the topic. I didn't really want to talk about Peeta right now.

"A couple of days, that mutt cut you pretty deep." He said, watching my face intently.

"It was Rue." I whispered, looking down at my lap and biting my lip to stop the tears.

"No, it wasn't. Rue wouldn't have hurt you like that. It was a mutt; they replicated her eyes to make it look like her." He responded, tilting my chin up so that I was forced to look into his golden lined eyes. "I'm going to go get the doctor now. You should have that cut looked at and maybe we can find out exactly how long you have to keep the bandages on." He said, squeezing my hand before leaving the room.

I watched him walk out while sitting there quietly, my hands finding each other and squeezing down on each other. I had to get out of here. I had to kill Cato; I had to see Peeta again. That was a good plan, kill Cato and then kill myself. Get revenge then see Peeta.

What was I thinking? I can't kill someone, not anymore. It was hard enough in the Games. I can't do it. But I might be able to kill myself. There wasn't a point anymore. But there's Prim, I can't leave her. I was disrupted from my thoughts when Cinna and a doctor came back into the room. I looked up at them and the doctor smiled at me.

"Hi Katniss, how are you feeling?" He asked, picking up the clipboard that was hanging on the end of my bed and reading something on it.

"Fine." I answered, making it clear that I wasn't going to talk. Cinna took the hint and continued for me.

"Katniss would like to know when she will get her bandages off. And she had a little problem with a syringe; she got a cut from it on her chest." Explained Cinna, pointing to the blood stain on my gown.

"Alright, we'll take a look at that. And your bandages will come off in maybe 2 or 3 days. In fact, it's time to change the bandages right now." Said the doctor, putting the clipboard back on the end of my bed and walking over to a tray with a bunch of tools on it. The tray was on a table with wheels on the bottom so he rolled it over closer to me before picking up scissors and making sure that the cleaning materials and a roll of gauze were in reach. I shifted uncomfortable in my bed as he reached towards my face with the scissors. "Ok Katniss, this will hurt a little bit but don't worry, you will be fine." Reassured the doctor, steadying my face before snipping at the bandages.

I sat completely still as the doctor removed my bandages. He was trying to be careful, I could tell, but it still hurt in some parts where there had been some dried blood that had stuck to the bandages. When I could feel the air on all parts of my face, I stopped the doctor from getting the disinfectant.

"I want to see." I said, his hand freezing in motion as it reached for the tray again. He looked at me like I was crazy for a second before nodding once and walking to get a mirror. I knew that it was going to be bad because I saw Cinna grimacing when my bandages were removed but I didn't care. I could still feel the stinging pain from the air meeting the deep wounds but I ignored it. The doctor walked back to me and gave me a handheld mirror. My eyes widened at what they saw.

There were three gashes that went from a little bit above my eyebrow to about under my cheekbone. Two of them were small but deep, running on either side of my eye but the big one was huge. It cut right down the center of my eye and went pretty deep as well. I turned my head, looking at it from different angles. Rue got me pretty good, I wanted to smirk at my attempt at humor but I grimaced instead. The motion made one of my cuts start to reopen so I stopped.

The eye that had endured the worse, which had been completely covered with bandages, was red and swollen shut; it was a miracle that I would still be able to see out of it. I reached my fingers up to my face to touch the gashes, a bit mesmerized by them

"I wouldn't do that, Katniss. It's still healing and it might get infected." Said the doctor, pulling my hand away from my face. I gave him an annoyed look before turning back to my reflection. "Of course, it will look better once it heals and we remove the scars." He said and I froze. I turned to look at him, my eyes full of determination and anger.

"No, I want to keep them." I said, my voice firm. I must have looked intimidating because the doctor looked at me in fear before casting Cinna a look and quickly agreeing with me.

"Yes, of course. You can keep them." He said, taking the mirror from my hands. I looked forward again as the doctor cleaned my wounds, making eye contact with Cinna. He looked at me as well, unafraid of my scarred face. He could see through my anger and intimidation, he knew that I wanted to cry about the memory those scars would leave but at the same time he knew exactly why I wanted to keep them.

"Ok, all done. Now I just need to see your other cut." Said the doctor, placing the dirty bandages and bloody cotton balls in a pile on the tray. I felt slightly annoyed that my left eye was blind again but I guess that it was better than infection.

I undid the first couple buttons of my hospital gown until it revealed my cut; it was right on my heart. It looked better than I thought it was, it was small but it went quite deep. The doctor cleaned it up, making sure to get all the blood. And since the blood had dripped down onto my breast, the doctor made sure to get that too, he had slowly cleaned that up until I had had enough and gave him a murderous glare. He sewed the cut shut and when he was done, I buttoned up my own gown with a cautious look cast at the doctor.

"Do you think that you are stable enough to be off drugs, Katniss?" Asked the doctor, picking up my clipboard again to write on it. I nodded and he scribbled something on the clipboard. I knew I wasn't, I knew that I would have trouble sleeping but I just needed to be conscious of what I was doing, I didn't want to slip back into that dark world where I watched Peeta die over and over again right in front of me and I couldn't wake up. "Hope you feel better soon, Katniss. I'll be by tomorrow again." He said, putting the clipboard back and leaving the room.

"How much time do I have to recover?" I asked Cinna abruptly. I knew Snow would expect me up and healthy soon.

"About a week or earlier. Snow wants you out of the hospital as soon as possible." He answered, his dark eyes hiding something. I nodded, knowing that Snow would have something up his sleeve and that's what Cinna was hiding but I didn't want to know quite yet. We sat in silence, it wasn't uncomfortable and it wasn't comfortable, just normal.

"How many days have I been out?" I asked, poking my tongue out of my mouth to lick my dry lips but I grimaced as my saliva made a slightly exposed cut burn that I must have gotten sometime during the Games.

"Around three days, we had to keep putting you under because you kept waking from nightmares. You wouldn't calm down or listen to us, you were quite the fighter." He said, chuckling at the memory that didn't seem to be in my mind.

"There's a catch isn't there." I said suddenly, not really wanting to talk about this at the moment but I just had to know what Snow was planning. Cinna gave me a confused look so I explained more. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" I asked and Cinna had an expression of fear in his eyes for a split second before he resumed his calm façade.

"I'll let Haymitch explain that one." Said Cinna uncomfortably, shifting in his seat and clearing his throat. "It's late, Katniss, you should get to bed. You need the rest." Said Cinna, clearly wanting to change the topic.

"I've been sleeping for three days, I think I'm ok." I said, letting him change the subject. My statement became false as I yawned, it was clear that I was still recovering from the Games and after many nights of restless sleeping, I was tired.

"Alright, girl on fire. I'll leave you to sleep, goodnight." He said, getting up from his seat to turn out the light. He cast me one last look, one where I couldn't decipher what he was thinking before he shut the door after him, leaving me enclosed in the darkness.

I didn't lie down, I just continued to sit up in my bed and stare blankly ahead at nothing. I felt a lone tear roll out of my eye before being soaked up by my bandages.

"Peeta." I whispered, closing my eyes as more tears escaped. As I cried silently, I slipped into a half asleep state which was almost peaceful but I was jerked from it as someone knocked on the door. "What?" I called, my voice grumpy since I was rudely woken from my first sleep where I didn't have to worry about someone trying to kill me. The door cracked open slightly, letting in a bright stream of light and a head poked through it.

"Are you awake?" Asked the deep voice that was strangely familiar but unknown at the same time. My eyes widened when I recognized it. _Cato._

"What the hell do you think?" I snapped, glaring at him fiercely even though he probably couldn't see me, the only light in the room was coming from a window that had the bright lights of the Capitol streaming in. He opened the door more, letting in more light from the hallway into the dim room. "What do you want?" I asked, crossing my arms as he stood there awkwardly.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He said, running a hand through his hair nervously. I just continued to sit there, staring at him. My eyes were narrowed at him and he stood there looking back at me with a look that showed he sort of expected forgiving words from me. I reached my hand down into my pocket to grab my knife, the sharp blade giving me comfort.

"What you did was unforgivable." I spat angrily, pressing the pad of my thumb into the blade of the knife but not enough to break the skin. "I loved him." I snarled, my words seeming to shock Cato. He looked shameful for expecting forgiveness.

"I―I didn't know. I thought it wasn't real. That it was just an act." He stammered but I cut him off from saying something else by sending the knife through the air, directed at him. It narrowly missed him since I wasn't that skilled, it whizzed past his head and into the wall next to him. He looked from the knife to me with a wild expression.

"What the hell was that for?" He exclaimed, glaring at me with traces of shock still on his face.

"For killing him and not killing me." I growled, my face stinging in pain from my changing facial expressions.

"It's not like I wasn't going to!" He exclaimed as I got up from my spot and stalked past Cato to the knife in the wall. I ripped it out, a small hole now in the wall, and turning to face him. I pointed the knife up at him but he didn't show any emotion, no fear or shock, just nothing. Just like a Career, no emotion. "Do it." Cato taunted, standing still before me. I glared at him, slightly confused. "Do it, fire girl. Or are you too weak to even try?" He snarled, his dark blue eyes challenging me.

My teeth bared again and I pointed the knife closer to him. His deep blue eyes stared back down into mine. They were cold and fierce, just like I would expect. But before, he seemed regretful. Why didn't he kill me? The thought brought on a new wave of thoughts. He obviously had the upper hand but he decided to hold me down instead. But he said he was going to, was he just waiting? For a dramatic effect? Or just to make an example of what happens to the weak minded? He kept me in this cruel world that is probably worse than hell itself without Peeta.

He should be dead. I should kill him, he killed Peeta and that comes with the punishment of death.

I took this time to really look at the brutal Career tribute from District 2. He had blonde hair, like Peeta, except his was a little darker and shorter. He had dark blue eyes that were as cold as ice, Peeta had light blue eyes, his would warm you up. Like the sun on a warm day.

Cato's features were very chiseled and defined. He was quite handsome really. It was no wonder that they had to make us both win; he was obviously in high demand and somehow so was I. His muscles were very intimidating; I have seen them in use. They seemed to ripple as he clenched and unclenched his fist, reminding me of how easily he snapped the neck of one of his teammates.

"Well, twelve?" He said, snapping my eyes back to his face. I looked at his expression, it was hard and unemotional.

I scowled at him and turned away, defeated. But this wasn't over yet, I would get my chance. I stalked back to my bed, itching at the bandages. I growled at them before ripping them off my face in agitation. The cool hospital air stung when it met the tender wounds.

"Why can't you do it?" He asked, his voice sounding broken in a way. It wasn't cocky or taunting, it was simply broken.

"I can't kill another person. I can't do it anymore. If I kill you, I'll have more blood on my hands. What good will it do? Right now, I can't seem to make a decision." I said, still not facing him. I stood before my bed, not sitting down. I was torn between getting revenge and keeping in touch with my humanity.

"Me either." He said in a small voice. My eyes widened at this and I stared down at the bed in confusion.

How could brutal, bloody, Cato be saying this to me? He was a ruthless killing machine who killed a boy with his bare hands. Now he was saying he couldn't kill anyone anymore? That can't be possible; he even admitted in his interview that he couldn't be stopped and that he wouldn't stop.

I turned around to face him and his eyes met my face. His stare turned from wonder to horrific. I kept my cold glare on him. His eyes continued to trace my wounds in silence.

"Get out, Cato." I said coldly before turning around to face my bed again. I heard silence and then a sound of his footsteps and the door shutting.

That's when I broke down, I put my hand over my mouth to cover up the sounds and let the tears fall freely. I felt the whole weight of the situation crashing down on me, burying me alive. I lay down in my bed and rested my burning face against the cool pillow. My hand stayed on my mouth as I sobbed into my pillow.

I cried myself to sleep that night, but I came to a very important decision. I was going to give up.


End file.
